Boards announcing a coronavirus COVID-19 test center (top) and the 72nd Berlin film festival (bottom) are pictured in front of the Berlinale Palace in Berlin on Feb 9, 2022. (JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP)
NEW YORK / SAO PAULO / LONDON / ADDIS ABABA / MOSCOW / TRIPOLI / STOCKHOLM / BERLIN- Coronavirus case numbers have slightly dropped in Germany, as the government plans to loosen coronavirus restrictions in Europe's biggest economy.
Germany reported 76,465 new daily coronavirus cases on Monday, down 20 percent from the same day last week
Germany reported 76,465 new daily coronavirus cases on Monday, down 20 percent from the same day last week. The 7-day infection incidence per 100,000 people also fell to 1,460 from 1,467 on Sunday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the heads of the federal states are due to meet on Wednesday to discuss possible easing.
Among possible steps is dropping requirements for shoppers at non-essential stores to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result, a draft prepared for the meeting and seen by Reuters showed.
The draft also included plans to increase the number of people allowed at indoor private gatherings to 20 if all of them are vaccinated.
In a second phase of easing, night clubs could re-open and unvaccinated Germans would be allowed into restaurants from March 4, the draft showed.
A requirement to wear masks indoors and on public transportation is to remain in place.
Germany's expert panel said on Sunday that the government needed to put plans in place for easing curbs, given the current wave of infections was expected to flatten in the coming weeks, but it warned against loosening restrictions too soon.
"Thanks to the milder course of the disease, we are entering a new phase of the pandemic, which allows prospects for gradual opening," Hendrik Wuest, the prime minister of Germany's most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia, told Welt newspaper.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner also called on federal and state governments to decide on a comprehensive easing at their meeting on Wednesday, adding that there must be a "noticeable difference in everyday life" afterwards.
A worker sanitizes the dugouts ahead of the Group F Africa Cup of Nations 2021 football match between Tunisia and Mali at Limbe Omnisport Stadium in Limbe on Jan 12, 2022. (ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP)
Africa
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 11,031,215 as of Sunday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The COVID-19 death toll across the continent stands at 244,282 and 10,139,776 patients have recovered from the disease so far, said the agency
The COVID-19 death toll across the continent stands at 244,282 and 10,139,776 patients have recovered from the disease so far, said the agency.
South Africa has recorded 3,640,162 COVID-19 cases, the highest number in Africa, followed by Morocco with 1,155,165 cases as of Sunday evening, it added.
Brazil
Brazil registered 54,220 COVID-19 infections and 314 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing its nationwide counts to 27,479,963 and 638,362, respectively, the National Council of Health Secretaries said Sunday.
The national seven-day moving average of deaths reached 881, while that of daily infections stood at 135,279.
As of Saturday, 152.4 million people nationwide had been fully vaccinated, and 55.3 million had received a booster shot, according to official data.
Libyans register to get vaccinated against the coronavirus at the Sports City complex in the capital Tripoli on Aug 11, 2021. (PHOTO / AFP)
Libya
Libya reported 3,648 new infections and 12 more deaths on Sunday, bringing the total caseload to 470,314 and the national death toll to 6,125, said the country's National Center for Disease Control.
The new cases were identified after 12,714 tests were carried out over the last 24 hours, the center said.
Meanwhile, 5,409 more recoveries were registered in the past day, taking the total number of recoveries to 418,279, it said.
A total of 2,095,217 people in Libya have received one COVID-19 vaccine dose while 1,045,251 have received two, and 45,131 have got a booster shot, it added.
People wait to undergo a free rapid antigen test for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at a testing center in the GUM, State Department store in Moscow on Jan 31, 2022. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP)
Russia
Russia has registered 197,949 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the national tally to 14,133,509, the official monitoring and response center said Sunday.
The country's nationwide death toll grew by 706 to 340,248, while the number of recoveries has increased by 101,568 to 11,235,859.
Moscow, Russia's worst-hit region, reported 12,496 new cases, taking its total to 2,603,876.
The number of active cases in Russia rose to 2,557,402, while the mortality rate from COVID-19 infections dropped to 2.41 percent.
To date, Omicron variant infections have been detected in 84 out of Russia's 85 regions.
Sweden
Sweden's Health Agency recommended on Monday that people aged 80 or above should receive a second booster shot of COVID-19 vaccine, the fourth jab in total, to ward off waning immunity amid the rampant spread of the Omicron variant.
The recommendation also covered all people living in nursing homes or who receive assisted living services at home. The second booster shot should be administered at least four months after the first booster jab, the agency said in a statement.
A box of Clarity Diagnostics rapid antigen COVID-19 test at a Reliant Health Services testing site in Hawthorne, California on Jan18, 2022. (PATRICK
T. FALLON / AFP)
US
The US federal government's free COVID-19 tests plan with the limit of four tests per household will force the tens of millions of Americans who live in multi-generational homes to make difficult and risky decisions about who gets to use them, US public health experts and community activists have warned.
An estimated 64 million Americans live in multi-generational households, a disproportionate number of them people of color and many of them working in essential jobs in cities and communities hardest hit by the pandemic, according to a report by The Washington Post on Sunday
An estimated 64 million Americans live in multi-generational households, a disproportionate number of them people of color and many of them working in essential jobs in cities and communities hardest hit by the pandemic, according to a report by The Washington Post on Sunday.
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"There's no consideration for those who are at higher risk. Every time we roll out a plan, why can't we put them to the front?" the report cited Myron Quon, executive director of Pacific Asian Counseling Services, which serves the immigrant community in Los Angeles, as saying.
Four tests for families in vulnerable communities "is just not sufficient. Not even close. They'll have to ration," Quon said.
Of the more than 900,000 people in the United States killed by COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, black, Latino and Native Americans represent a disproportionally large share, with death rates 60 to 90 percent higher than that of white Americans, the report said.
UK
Britain reported 41,270 new COVID-19 cases and 52 deaths within 28 days of a positive test on Sunday, government data showed.
That compared with 46,025 cases and 167 deaths reported a day earlier.
